


Paperback

by WhiteravenGreywolf



Series: New Mutants High School AU [1]
Category: The New Mutants (2020), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, And you buy a bunch of them, F/F, Fluff, MoonWolf, What if I'm selling book to save my club, and we were both girls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26543950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteravenGreywolf/pseuds/WhiteravenGreywolf
Summary: What to do when you need money to save the school's AV club? Illyana suggested selling drugs. They went with books instead. Now Dani is going door to door selling books. Not that she minds. She wants this movie to be made as much as the others. She's just glad that she knocked on the door of someone who likes books a lot. And has a very nice smile.
Relationships: Danielle Moonstar/Rahne Sinclair
Series: New Mutants High School AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984816
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	Paperback

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! I've been thinking about a few more one-shots that I could work on, but usually, it's the type of things that come to me in the morning when I wake up, like with this one. If you have any requests just let me know and I'll see what I can do.  
> If there are any grammatical errors it's my fault. I wrote my last story in the present tense and I wanted to write this one in the past tense, but my brain was still on 'present tense' setting so I had to manually go back on almost every verb to put them in the right tense and I may have forgotten some. Please don't mind them.  
> Anyway, have a great weekend you guys!

Dani reached the fourth floor with a sigh. She was only halfway through the building, and she was really glad that she lived in a single floor cabin at the reservation, and not on the eighth floor of a building without an elevator.

  
She took a deep breath, cleared the throat, brushed a few strands of dark hair out of her face, and knocked on the nearest door. Swiftly, she pulled a flier out of her bag. The door opened slowly. There was a young woman her age standing on the other side. Her short red hair was shaggy and fell messily just over her brown eyes. She was wearing sweat pants and an oversized sweater. Dani recognized her immediately.

  
"Hey, you're Rahne, right? We have a few classes together."

  
Rahne nodded sharply once. Her hands were tugged in the sleeves of her sweater, and she struggled to pull them out.

  
"You're Dani."

  
Dani nodded. Rahne usually stuck to the back of the class, where she could disappear and be forgotten by everyone. But Dani had noticed her, staring out the window as if she longed to be always outside.

  
"Why are you here?" Rahne asks, pulling Dani out of her thoughts.

  
Dani clears her throat again.

  
"Yeah, so, um... I'm here to help save the AV club at school."

  
Dani hands Rahne the flier, and Rahne finally pulls one of her hand out of her sweater to look at it. It's a printed flier which claims in bright color 'Help us save the AV club at Claremont High'. Rahne flipped it open, but before she could read, Dani explained:

  
"Most of the club left last year after our founding got slashed and now there's only four of us, so the principal wants to close the club. We convinced him to keep it open but he won't give us more money and we need it for our next project."

  
Most of what Dani said was written almost word for word inside the flier. Rahne looked up from the piece of paper and found Dani staring at her with hopeful eyes.

  
"What's your project?" Rahne asked.

  
"We're trying to make a stop-motion short film. If we can finish it before the Christmas break we can enter the State-sponsored student contest. I think if we win something than the principal can't try to shut us down anymore."

  
Rahne nodded.

  
"Makes sense. So you're looking for donations?"

  
"Not quite."

  
Dani pointed to the middle of the flier, where there was a list of fifteen names with little boxes in front of every item. Rahne read the first few names.

  
"We're selling books to help raise money. Only public domain one so they're all a bit old but it's a great opportunity if there's a classic you've always wanted to read but never bought."

  
Rahne was still reading through the list and Dani pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to remember what else she was supposed to say.

  
"One book is $5, but if you buy more than three than all the other ones are $3. So it's $15 for three, but $18 for four, $21 for five,..."

  
Rahne looked up from the flier. Her eyes met Dani's for a second before she looked away.

  
"If you want to collect money you shouldn't be doing special prices."

  
Dani shrugged.

  
"What sounds better? Four books for twenty bucks or five?"

  
"I see your point."

  
Rahne bit her lower lip thoughtfully, prompting Dani to glance at her lips before looking away.

  
"Do I pay now?"

  
Dani nodded.

  
"If you don't mind. I'll come back with the books once we've printed them. Just fill in the form in the middle, put the money in the flier and I'll put it with the other orders."

  
Rahne looked around her then turned to Dani once again.

  
"Do you have a pen?"

  
"Sure."

  
Dani pulled out a cheap blue ballpoint from her bag and handed it to Rahne. Rahne leaned against the door frame to fill the paper in.

  
"You've had a lot of orders?" she asked.

  
"A few. One or two books. It's nice that so many people want to help. It's like your neighbor on the first floor said, it's important to support the arts."

  
Rahne filled in the paper swiftly, then picked up her wallet on the nearby shelf and pulled out all the money she needed. She tugged a few bills in the flier then folded it back and handed it to Dani.

  
"Here. Just keep the change."

  
"Thank you."

  
Dani pulled a big kraft envelope from her bag and slid the flier inside.

  
"We should have all the books printed by next Saturday. I'll come back to deliver them."

  
"Alright."

  
"And, you know where to find me if you want more books," Dani added with a smile.

  
A shy smile tugged at the corner of Rahne's lips.

  
"Have a nice weekend," Dani said as Rahne began to close the door.

  
"You too."

  
Rahne's door closed softly. Dani kept smiling at the door for another moment. Then, she took a deep breath and moved on to the next door.

* * *

There were a lot of people at the cafeteria this Monday, yet no one bothered to stop by their table. They'd made a big paper streamer to hang over the table, with a bright red 'Help save the AV club!' on it, but no one seemed to bother looking at it. Illyana was very furious about it. She was seating at the end of the table, her frustration bubbling more and more with each passing second, to the point that neither Sam nor Roberto dared to talk to her. They sat in the middle of the table, fliers spread out before them. Sam was finishing his lunch while Roberto sipped from a can of soda as if it were champaign.

  
"All I'm saying is it would be a hundred times easier to move them if we had one of those wheelie things," Roberto said.

  
"I mean, I could look around, ask my dad if they have any that are light to carry at work, but I doubt it. With mining work, it's mostly big heavy wagons, not collapsible wheel thing."

  
When Dani arrived with a sandwich in her hand, she sat in the empty chair beside Sam, at the end of the table.

  
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked as she unwrapped her lunch.

  
"How we're gonna carry all of those books," Sam replied. "Cause we're aiming for a hundred, but a hundred books won't be light."

  
Dani shrugged.

  
"I thought we would place them into the car as we went."

  
"I think we should at least put them in a box," Roberto replied. "We can't risk them getting damaged before we give them, that's just bad business."

  
"We should probably print a few more of each, just in case," Dani said between two bites.

  
"How many?"

  
Dani shrugged.

  
"Don't know. Ten?"

  
While Roberto and Sam started to argue that it was too much, Illyana stood up.

  
"I'm taking a break," she decided.

  
"Good idea," Roberto replied. "Maybe get a drink or something..."

  
His voice died down when Illyana glared at him.

  
"Or something..." he continued quietly.

  
She walked away. Any students standing between her and the exit stepped aside instantly. The rest of the AV club watched her go.

  
"Maybe we should exempt her from sitting here," Sam began. "I'm starting to think she's the reason why no one wants to give us their money."

  
Dani shook her head and chewed as quickly as she could to reply:

  
"No way. We've already exempted her from doing the door to door work. I get that she's not very... good with people, but she has to pull her weight like all of us."

  
"Okay, but hear me out," Roberto said as he leaned back in his chair. "What if we unleash her instead? I think you underestimate how scary she can be."

  
"What I think is that we don't want money she beat out of other students because that could turn bad very quickly."

  
Roberto shrugged and leaned back on two legs of his chair to finish his can.

  
"Mister Da Costa, this is a chair, not a swing."

  
Roberto felt himself losing his balance and he fell forward swiftly, the front legs of the chair hitting the ground loudly. The school vice-principal, Miss Reyes, was standing in front of the AV club booth. She had a severe expression on her face, her arms crossed, her dark hair pulled in its usual bun.

  
"Vice Principal Reyes," Dani started with a smile. "Would you like to help save the AV club?"

  
She handed one of the fliers to Reyes, but the older woman simply glanced at it and didn't take it.

  
"We're selling books," Dani added with a quieter voice. "To help raise money."

  
Reyes said nothing. Instead, her eyes passed over the hand-made streamer, the colorful fliers, and the three students seating behind the table.

  
"Is there a problem?" Dani asked nervously. "We have principal Thorne's authorization for this fundraiser."

  
Reyes opened her mouth, and for a second Dani dreaded what she was going to say.

  
"Vice-principal Reyes, are you here to donate to the AV club too?"

  
Everyone looked as Rahne came to stand by the edge of the table, a pen in hand. She picked up one of the fliers, skimmed through it quickly, and ticked off two boxes.

  
"I think it's great that they're trying to save their club," Rahne continued with a smile. "After all, the arts are just as important as everything else."

  
Rahne placed a single $10 bill in the flier and slid it in the cardboard box in the middle of the table. Reyes pursed her lips, then put on a fake smile.

  
"Of course. I'll leave you to it, then."

  
Reyes walked away, and everyone at the table visibly relaxed. Dani's smile returned.

  
"Thank you. She looked like she was about to murder us."

  
Rahne smiled back.

  
"No problem."

  
"Hold on," Dani said as she started to open the box. "I'll give you your money back."

  
Rahne shook her head.

  
"No, keep it."

  
Dani frowned.

  
"You sure?"

  
"Yeah, I'm just ordering more books. Also..."

  
She held out her pen to Dani. Dani recognized it as the pen she'd thought she'd lost during her door to door selling the previous weekend.

  
"You forgot to take it back."

  
Dani took the pen out of Rahne's fingers.

  
"Thanks, I thought I'd lost it."

  
Rahne smiled shyly.

  
"No problem."

  
She paused as she and Dani stared at each other. Finally, Rahne continued:

  
"I'll see you in Biology. Good luck with the money collecting."

  
Rahne walked away quickly. Dani watched her leave. Sam cleared his throat.

  
"What just happened?"

  
"I think Dani's new girlfriend just saved us," Roberto replied.

  
Dani whirled around to look at her friends.

  
"What? Rahne? She's not my... We're not even friends... She's just in my class."

  
"Yeah, yeah, that's what you say now, but then next time I go to the AV room I'll find you two making out in a corner."

  
Dani frowned.

  
"That's not me, that's you and Illyana. Every week."

  
Roberto rolled his eyes and began to balance on the back legs of his chair again. Dani sat down in her chair with a sigh.

  
"What's going on with you and Illy anyway?" Sam asked Roberto.

  
Roberto shrugged.

  
"It's complicated. You wouldn't understand."

* * *

Friday came too swiftly for Dani's liking. After her last class, she went to the AV club, pulled out all the fliers from the box, and tallied how many of each book had been ordered. Then, she hung out at Roberto's place with the others until the night fell. Roberto lived a life of luxury, and his parents could have completely sponsored their club, but according to Roberto, his father refused because 'He needed to understand the importance of hard work'. So once the sun fell, they worked hard to sneak into a printing warehouse and make their books.

  
It was Illyana's idea. She'd said she knew a warehouse where printing machines and supplies were kept, and that she probably knew how to make them work. Dani still looked online just in case, and she felt more confident in their chances of success. So what if the warehouse probably belonged to the Russian mafia? So did Illyana's family, technically, so they shouldn't get into trouble.

  
They parked Sam's old pick-up truck in front of the warehouse, right next to the delivery entrance. The warehouse was dark and no one was guarding it. Illyana unlocked the door for them with a stolen set of keys. Inside were big machines none of them had ever seen before. Some had huge rolls of papers affixed to them, while others had sharp looking blades. One looked like a massive sewing machine. There was a computer in one corner. Illyana hopped on it immediately and placed a flash drive in it. She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket. It was a list of all the books they had to print, and how many of each.

  
"Find the switches to turn them on," she instructed.

  
Dani and the boys walked around the room and began looking for the switches and buttons which would turn on each machine. As they each turned on, one after the other, the noise grew louder and louder.

  
"It's gonna be loud, isn't it?" Roberto said.

  
"What did you expect?" Illyana replied.

  
"Let's get a move on, then," Sam said. "We don't want to be here longer than we need to."

  
It took a bit of time for them to get a good grip on what they were doing, and to get into a good working rhythm. But eventually, after they'd finished printing the first book, Bram Stocker's _Dracula_ , they got the hang of it. Illyana sent the books to be printed. Roberto picked up the printed pieces of paper and placed them in the sewing machine, to sew bundles of pages together. Sam took the bundles and brought them to the machine that would glue them to the cover. Dani double-checked that the book was in order and glued right-side up, then placed a sticker on each one which read 'Thanks for helping the AV club!'. She'd made those stickers herself, in her free time. Finally, she placed the books in cardboard boxes.

  
It took them most of the night. Whenever one of them felt their heads falling forward tiredly, Illyana would hand them an energy drink. She seemed to have an infinite supply in her bag and yet never drank a single one throughout the entire night. It was four in the morning and the sun was threatening to appear in the sky when the last copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ was glued together, and stuffed in a box with the others. Together they made quick work of placing the boxes at the back of Sam's truck, and they drove off, exhausted but proud of their work.

* * *

Dani slept until one in the afternoon. She was supposed to start her distribution of books that same morning, and go to town with her father when he left for work, but he'd taken pity on her and had let her sleep. When she woke up, she had barely slept five hours, her eyes were burning, but she got to work. Armed with her list and backpacks of books, she went from house to house in the reservation and handed everyone their books. As soon as she was done, she crashed back in her bed and returned to sleep.

  
On Sunday, she woke up ready to tackle the rest of her list. She filled a few backpacks with all the books she needed to give, stashed them all in the trunk of her father's car, and they drove together downtown. Her father worked at a bookstore there. It'd been his idea to sell books to raise money, he even wanted to donate some books to the cause, but Dani refused. She placed the books in the storage room and left the bookstore with one full backpack.

  
"I'll be back in half an hour," she warned as she left the bookstore.

  
"Are you going to warn me every time you leave?" her father asked from behind a shelf he was reordering.

  
Dani shrugged.

  
"In case I get kidnapped or something."

  
"I think I would know to worry if my daughter went missing more than a few hours," her father replied with a chuckle.

  
"A few hours? Wow, I see. I thought you cared about me, but I suppose you don't. So I'm off. Let's hope no one kidnaps me on the way!"

  
She heard her father laughing as she left the shop. She checked the address of the first building she needed to deliver to and began walking.

  
She did so for most of the day, taking regular breaks at the bookstore. She loaded her backpack with books, choosing a new building to deliver to, and walked there. Then, once all the books had been delivered, she made her way back to the library. It was tiring, and she quickly found herself with a backache. She kept the heaviest load for last, in the middle of the afternoon, where she filled her backpack to the brim and made her way to Rahne's apartment building.

  
As she approached the building, her heart began to hammer in her chest. She felt her hands grow clammy from her nervousness. They'd seen each other all week but hadn't really spoken, simply exchanged glances from the opposite corners of the classrooms. Roberto hadn't stopped teasing her about Rahne, and even though she continued to deny that there was something, she couldn't deny that there wasn't nothing. She felt it, and she hoped Rahne felt it too. She just didn't know what to do about it.

  
The first few floors were a blur of politeness, handing out books to college students and old people alike. Finally, she found herself in front of Rahne's front door. She took a deep breath, combed her hair so they wouldn't look like she'd been delivering books all day, then knocked. She could hear her heart in her ears. She waited. She wasn't sure how long she needed to wait before knocking again. When it felt like a while, she knocked again. She waited there for quite a while. She was about to knock again when the door across the hall opened. She turned around and came face to face with an older woman, holding a cat in her arms. The cat was struggling to get out of her grasp, but she must have been used to it because it couldn't quite escape.

  
"Are you looking for Rahne?" she asked.

  
Dani nodded. She somewhat recognized the woman, who had bought a copy of _Little Women_.

  
"I think she's still at the church right now. Volunteering. She should be back later."

  
Dani's brows furrowed slightly, then relaxed. Of course, it was Sunday. She nodded again.

  
"Thank you, ma'am. I'm here to deliver the book you bought."

* * *

By the time Dani had delivered their books to the eighth-floor residents, she could barely feel her shoulders. They were burning with pain, and she only dreamed of going back to the book store and lay down on one of the bean bags there. Hopefully, they wouldn't be all taken just yet. She made her way back down the stairs. She still had twelve books in her bag, the ones Rahne had ordered. She decided she would try to knock on her door again, and if Rahne didn't answer, she would just give her her books the next day at school.

  
Just as Dani reached the fourth-floor landing, Rahne appeared up the stairs. Their eyes met and they stared at each other for a moment, as if neither could recognize the other. Finally, Dani smiled, prompting Rahne to do the same.

  
"Hey, I was just looking for you. Your neighbor said you were at church?"

  
"No, I mean..."

  
Rahne cleared her throat.

  
"I was helping sorting through the toys for Christmas. You know, old toys people bring in, and we give them to poor children at Christmas. So I was making sure everything worked, and all the jigsaw puzzles were full, and all that..."

  
Rahne's voice became quieter as she babbled on, and she pursed her lips nervously once she was done. She couldn't quite look at Dani as she waited for her to say something.  
"It's nice," Dani said.

  
Rahne smiled shyly.

  
"It is."

  
They both stood in the hallway for a moment, waiting for the other to say something. Rahne seemed to realize how stupid they probably looked, and she pulled a set of keys out of her sweater's pocket.

  
"I hope you didn't wait for me for too long," Rahne said as she unlocked the door. "I mean, I suppose you must have knocked a couple of times."

  
"I did," Dani replied. "But I didn't wait long, I mean, I was gonna try again now, and if you didn't answer, I was just going to give them to you tomorrow."

  
Rahne's door opened, but Rahne remained by the door-frame as she spoke.

  
"I should have warned you I'm mostly out on Sunday."

  
Dani shook her head.

  
"No, it's my fault. I was supposed to deliver them yesterday, but I was so tired. We spent all Friday night making them."

  
"Really? So they're freshly printed."

  
"As freshly printed as possible," Dani replied with a chuckle.

  
When silence once again fell, Rahne cleared her throat and took a step aside, one hand on the door handle.

  
"Would you like to come in? I mean, if you want to take a short break from delivering books."

  
Dani smiled.

  
"Actually, you're my last customer of the day."

  
She gladly walked into Rahne's small apartment, and took the backpack off her shoulders with a groan, as pain surged through her stiff muscles. Rahne closed the door behind her, leaving the key on the shelf beside her. Dani took a quick survey of the room.

  
To her surprise, it was a single room, small but just comfortable for a single person to leave in. There were only two rectangular windows, one across the door over the bed, and the other over the kitchen sink. A single door probably led to the bathroom. There was a single bed in a simple metal bed-frame in a corner, a dresser and a bookshelf each against a different wall. A coat hanger was hung on the wall behind the door. A small couch rested in the middle of the room, in front of an old TV. And there were books everywhere. The bookshelf was overflowing with them, and so three dozens of them were pilled under and beside the bed, making a sort of nightstand on which a tiny lamp rested.

  
"I didn't realize you lived alone," Dani said.

  
Rahne bit her lower lip, unsure what to reply.

  
"I do."

  
"You don't have to tell me why. I get why you don't want people to know, or they'll be begging you to throw a party every week."

  
Rahne chuckled lightly.

  
"Do you want something to drink?"

  
"I would kill for some water," Dani replied as she stepped further into the room.

  
Rahne made her way to the kitchen with a slight smile on her lips. She filled a glass with tap water and returned to Dani, who was standing hesitantly by the couch.

  
"You can sit down, you know."

  
Dani sat down with a sigh of relief, and Rahne gave her the glass.

  
"Thank you."

  
She finished it almost immediately and placed it on the ground beside her since there was no coffee table.

  
"Can I ask you a question?" Dani started, making Rahne, who'd taken a seat beside her visibly nervous.

  
"Depends."

  
"Why do you have a DVD player but no DVDs? Or are you hiding them somewhere?"

  
Rahne laughed, then she explained:

  
"I bought it second hand. When I got it I found out there was a DVD of Buffy the Vampire Slayer stuck in it. The DVD still runs perfectly, but you can't get it out. So I never bothered to buy more DVDs."

  
Dani laughed, prompting Rahne to laugh too.

  
"Now I feel even worse for how much money you spent on our stupid books. You could have used it to replace your DVD player. Do you have a job or something?"

  
Rahne shook her head.

  
"It's complicated. And I wasn't even saving to buy a new one, it was the money I usually donate to church every month."

  
Dani's eyes grew wide.

  
"Really? Now I feel even worse."

  
"No, it's fine. I told my priest and he said I did a good thing."

  
"God won't be mad you gave me his money then? We're good."

  
"We're good," Rahne assured with a smile.

  
Dani let out a sigh of relief.

  
"How much money did you guys collect?" Rahne asked.

  
"About a thousand dollars," Dani replied.

  
Rahne seemed stunned by the answer.

  
"Seriously?"

  
"Yeah, but we needed at least twice that. We're gonna have to find a way to cut the budget in half."

  
"It can't be that complicated," Rahne replied.

  
"At least half of that is going to paying the license for the editing software. Used to be the school paid for that, but not anymore. We were hoping to get a new microphone to record dialogs too, but I guess we can forget about that..."

  
Dani groaned and leaned back against the couch.

  
"We still have a few books, I'm gonna try to sell them after school next week, but we need to get started on production, or we'll never be ready on time."

  
Tentatively, Rahne placed her hand on Dani's shoulder.

  
"I'm sure you guys can do it. I mean, you managed to organize this whole fundraiser by yourselves."

  
Dani laughed.

  
"We were this close to selling drugs."

  
"I'm glad you didn't."

  
Dani looked at Rahne with a smile.

  
"Me too."

  
She straightened in her seat. Rahne's hand was still on her shoulder. The couch was so small, they were hip to hip. Rahne shifted slightly, as if she were trying to get away from Dani, but instead shifted closer, her elbow on the headrest and her head in her hand.

  
"What's your movie gonna be about?" she asked.

  
"It's about a group of friends camping in a forest and getting attacked by a demon bear."

  
"A demon bear?"

  
"It was gonna be a bear with chainsaws for arms, first, then sharks for arms, but we realized it would be a bit complicated to make and animate, so it's going to be a demon bear."

  
"Sounds nice."

  
"I wrote it. At first, we wanted to shoot it live, but then we realized none of us knew how to make special effects. So we decided on making it stop-motion instead."

  
"Well, I can't wait to see it."

  
"If we can make it."

  
"You will. I'm absolutely certain you will."

  
Without realizing it their voices had grown softer and softer as they spoke as if they didn't want anyone else to hear their conversation. Rahne's eyes had found Dani's, before looking down at her lips when Dani had licked them.

  
Neither can exactly remember who had leaned in first, but somehow they were kissing. The feeling of Rahne's lips on hers seemed to snap Dani out of whatever bubble she'd been stuck into. She pulled away instinctively, surprised that she had just kissed Rahne. Rahne seemed just as surprised as her. They stared at each other for another moment, and finally, Dani stood up.

  
"I have to go," she said, as if in a daze.

  
She grabbed her bag and walked out of the door, then down the stairs and out of the building. She was standing on the pavement when she realized what she'd just done. She looked back at the door. Should she go back in? To say what? Sorry, I just walked out while we were kissing because my mind couldn't comprehend what had just happened? Dani groaned and decided to walk back to the bookstore. When she placed the backpack on her shoulders she let out another groan, of pain this time. The books were still in the bag. She hadn't even given them to her. She wanted to bang her head against the nearest wall, but she refrained for now.

* * *

Rahne had been torturing herself over the kiss all Sunday afternoon, and well into the evening. It had kept her awake most of the night. When she arrived at school the next day she was tired, tormented like never before, and she had absolutely no will to see Dani in class. So she was very surprised when she opened her locker, and she found a paper bag with a note on it, neither of which she'd left on Friday afternoon. She was somewhat skeptical at first and checked behind and around her to make sure it wasn't a prank. Then, she pulled the note off the bag. Though she didn't recognize the handwriting, she saw Dani's name in large letters at the bottom. She read through it quickly.

_Rahne,_  
_Sorry for leaving yesterday. I can only imagine what you must think right now. It's completely my fault. I can't even explain it. It must sound stupid but I was just shocked that we kissed. Now I feel like I've ruined any chances that we might have. I will completely understand if you want nothing to do with me again._  
_Here are the books you ordered, I forgot to give them to you yesterday. I added an extra for free because you gave us so much money I thought you should have it. And thank you again for all your help._

_Dani._  
_PS: I didn't break into your locker, Illyana did it for me because she somehow knows everyone's locker combination, but I made sure she didn't steal anything._

Rahne sighed as she finished the letter. Then, she read it again. She felt a dull pain in her chest. This wasn't exactly what she'd expected. She'd expected Dani to ignore her and pretend that she didn't exist. Not for her to apologize. She read the note again, then folded it neatly in her pocket. She pulled out the bag. There was the logo of a bookstore on it, one downtown she'd never been to before. She looked inside and found a pile of books. She placed the bag back in her locker and closed it.

  
Most of her morning was spent debating whether she should approach Dani or not. She thought they should at least talk. She wondered why Dani was shocked that they'd kissed. She'd thought that something had been happening between them, but then again, maybe she'd been wrong. She wondered whether talking would help. Maybe they should just pretend that the kiss had never happened.

  
At lunch, she sat in a corner for the cafeteria, as far away from the AV club table as she could. They'd taken a table again to sell books, but once again they'd gotten next to no interest from the other students.

  
Early in the afternoon, Dani and Rahne had Biology together. Rahne sat at the back as usual, but instead of staring out the window, she couldn't help but look at the front of the class, and Dani. Dani was seating beside Sam and they muttered under their breaths and passed notes to one another throughout the class. A few times Dani glanced back, and Rahne quickly looked away.

  
When the final bell rang Rahne returned to her locker and found herself face to face with the paper bag again. She'd almost completely forgotten about it. She stared at it silently. After a moment, she pulled it out and looked at the logo on the side of it. She pulled out her phone and searched for the address, before stuffing the bag in her backpack and walking toward the nearest bus stop.

* * *

Her father had helped her set up a table right outside the shop so Dani could make one last-ditch effort to raise a few more dollars for the club. She stood behind it and waited for someone to come up to her. Many people passed by, a few spared a glance in her direction, but no one stopped to talk. She quickly got lost in her thoughts. She thought about Rahne. She had really messed it up, and she knew it. Every time she'd tried to look her way during their Biology class, Rahne had promptly looked away. And she couldn't blame her. She hated herself too.

  
"I thought I'd find you here. Just not... outside."

  
Dani looked up, just to see Rahne standing by the table, her usual shy smile on her lips.

  
"What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised.

  
"I got your note. I can't say that I completely understand why you left but I just wanted to say that I'm not mad. I kinda thought it was my fault."

  
"What? No! No, it's completely mine! I seriously messed up."

  
Dani sighed.

  
"I'm so sorry. I can never apologize enough."

  
"It's fine, really. You gave me a free book."

  
Dani was speechless for a second:

  
"It was to thank you that I gave you that free book. But if you want a free 'I'm sorry' book, just take your pick."

  
She pointed to the books spread out on the table. Rahne moved behind the table beside Dani.

  
"These all the ones you didn't sell?" Rahne asked.

  
"Most of them."

  
Rahne looked at each cover. The covers had been made by the AV club themselves, using stills from the movie adaptations.

  
"What are you gonna do with them?"

  
"I don't know. You can probably take them all if you want to. Make yourself an even bigger nightstand."

  
Rahne chuckled. She was about to reply when a woman came to stop by them.

  
"Rahne, I thought I'd recognized you. What are you doing?"

  
It was a middle-aged woman in a pencil skirt and blouse, carrying a heavy-looking computer bag on her shoulder. She was probably going home from work, Dani imagined.

  
"Mrs. Price, hello," Rahne said politely. "I'm helping my friend Dani raising money for the school's AV club."

  
"That's very nice of you," the woman replied as she looked at the books and the fliers on the table.

  
Rahne nodded.

  
"Can you believe the school has been taking away funding from the art clubs when the arts are so important. So we're selling books to try and fund the AV club's next movie. They're trying to win a State-sponsored contest."

  
The woman nodded along as Rahne spoke. Dani was floored that Rahne had remembered all of the things she'd said in her silly selling speech.

  
"That's very impressive. You know what, I think I'll take a few books."

  
"It's five for one, but if you take more than five, the others are at three."

  
Dani refrained from telling Rahne that she'd made a mistake until the woman had taken four books, paid $20, and walked away with a final wave and a 'See you at church'.  
"What just happened?" Dani asked.

  
"I just got you $20 is what happened."

* * *

For the rest of the afternoon, Rahne helped Dani sell as many books as they could. A few more people Rahne knew from church stopped by, and she had no trouble convincing them to help. A few customers of the bookstore also stopped by. All in all, their book collection grew thinner and their biscuit box grew heavier with bills and coins.

  
The clock neared six when Dani looked at their dwindled stock and decided:

  
"Let's call it a night. We definitely sold more than I ever thought I would."

  
"You sure?"

  
"Yeah. We'll manage with what we have."

  
They began stacking the books back in the cardboard box.

  
"You know, all it takes is a bit of organization. Sometimes I think I won't have enough money to buy what I need, but with a bit of organization, I always manage."

  
Dani paused thoughtfully. Then, she asked:

  
"Would you like to be our producer?"

  
Rahne frowned.

  
"What?"

  
"Yeah, you know, to make sure we don't blow all our money on expensive things when there's a cheaper solution. I'm not good with money, and I suspect Roberto and Illyana would probably blow it on useless things. And Sam is all-around bad at math, so he might miscount on accident. I think we seriously need you."

  
Rahne picked up the fliers on the table.

  
"I don't know. I've never made a movie before."

  
"You can't be any worse than us. Just think about it. I think it just makes sense."

  
Dani picked up the somewhat empty box and walked into the shop. Rahne trailed behind her, her backpack on her shoulders and fliers in hand.

  
"Hey dad, this is Rahne. She was helping me outside."

  
"Hello, Rahne," Dani's father said from behind the counter. "I'll bring the table in if you're done."

  
"Thank you," Dani shouted as she walked into the storage room. Rahne continued to follow behind her. Dani left the box in a corner with a sigh.

  
"Why are they always letting me do the heavy lifting?" she complained. "Roberto should be doing the heavy lifting."

  
Rahne chuckled.

  
"What should I do with these?" she said, showing the fliers.

  
"Here."

  
Rahne handed them to Dani. Their fingers brushed. Dani looked up at Rahne. Their eyes met. Dani's hand moved, reaching for Rahne's hand rather than the fliers. Rahne leaned forward. They kissed, but this time, Dani didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned closer. Her other hand found Rahne's hip, holding her close. The fliers tumbled to the ground. Rahne's hand reached for Dani's neck, the pads of her fingers resting over her spine. Dani gently pushed her until Rahne's back was against the wall.

  
They kissed until Dani's father cleared his throat behind them. They were both mortified. Rahne tried to jump away from Dani but she found herself stuck between the wall and Dani herself. Dani was frozen in place.

  
"I was going to suggest we head home but I suppose I can wait another ten minutes."

  
As he was shutting the door to the storage room, Dani called back:

  
"Dad?"

  
He looked at her, amused.

  
"Ten minutes. You better be ready to leave then or I'm locking you in for the night."

  
He closed the door behind him, and Dani's head came to rest again Rahne's shoulder as she sighed in relief and laughed. Rahne was still nervously staring at the door.

  
"It's fine?" she asked.

  
"Yeah, we're fine," Dani replied after a while. "But I think we only have nine minutes left now."

  
Rahne rolled her eyes but leaned in to kiss Dani anyway.


End file.
